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Topic: 6V92TA oil pan heater (Read 1489 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #25 –
Tips for Cold Weather Operation 

COLD WEATHER STARTING:
One should have an engine block heater installed and maybe even an oil pan oil heater. The easiest oil heater to use is the dip stick type which you just stick in the dip stick location. There are pan heaters that are magnetized and attach to the oil pan, but sometimes these will crystallize the pan and it will crack and start leaking. The engine block water heater should be plugged in at least 8 hours prior to crank and the oil heater should be turned on at least 3 to 4 hours prior although you can leave them on for much longer, even days at a time. Make sure fluids (Engine coolant and oil) are in the proper places before turning them on or they will burn out very quickly if not emerged (does not apply to the external magnet attached heaters).

In an emergency situation, I always threw in a bag of Charcoal, an old metal bucket and a gallon of Bleach and a roll of paper towels just in case I needed to warm the engine and did not have an electrical source to warm the engine with.

CAUTION: WAIT until the charcoal starter fluid is burned off and the coals start glowing good and NO flame is visible. Then slide the bucket under the oil pan and wait a couple of hours.

CAUTION: Do NOT burn the charcoal inside the bus or in a closed garage as it will Asphyxiate you. And do not ignite it near gasoline or even near empty gasoline containers that are open or closed. A tarp or pieces of cardboard to block the wind around the engine will also help.

AND WHAT IS THE BLEACH FOR? You can use the bleach to pour around the tires and make a short trail in the ice and snow to get traction if it gets too slippery to untrack the vehicle.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE ROLL OF PAPER TOWELS? When your windshield fogs over, instead of ripping off 1, 2, 3 or 4 sheets, you can use the roll of paper towels to wipe a 12" path side to side like an inside windshield wiper blade. If you grasp it at the end it will extend your reach almost an additional foot to reach into the far corners. And when it gets a little damp simply rotate the roll to a dry spot. It will dry out for the next de-fogging later.

WAIT . . . DON'T THROW AWAY THE TUBE . . . the one that is inside of the paper towels. It is real handy to use when adding oil to the engine. It is a extension to the 1 gallon oil jug. The neck of the oil jug fits just inside the cardboard tube effectively extending and making it a long neck jug. The extension tube fits just inside the oil filler tube and you don't have to spill it or hunt up a funnel, make sure it is clean from dirt or what ever and then afterwards mess with a dripping funnel after servicing the engine. If you want to save them in advance and make sure they are clean you can also take an old bread wrapper, turn it inside out (to get rid of the crumbs) and store the tubes inside the old bread wrapper.
 

1993 U300, 6v92
build 4366
USAF retired, Flight Engineer, C124, C130
 ATP, A & E.  & ex AI

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #26 –
very good stuff!  love the paper towel idea.  used the charcoal in a pan trick to get a Volvo started at 11 below zero one winter in MI -

Thanks for the great post
Tim Fiedler    2025 LTV Unity MBL on Order
2000 Chevy Tracker 2 Door Convertible 4WD Now lifted 4.5"
1985 Citroen 2CV6 Charleston
Murphy Rebel on wheels with 175HP Titan
Cessna P337
1980 48' Westport MY (!/4 Share)

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #27 –
Very impressed with the paper towel roll trick, much better than rolling up a piece of paper like I have been doing. On a related not Dixie cups make great throw away funnels.  Dipstick heaters are held back by the fact they have to fit in a small dipstick tube.  I have only seen one real serious dipstick heater failure, the user put it in an oil tank each time he fired the engine and continued pulling on it by the wires led to a short that arced out and ignited oil vapours that were coming out the tube.

I was hoping the magnetic heater was a loop of wire that you could trace out on the magnet to cut out but no such luck.

Could you adapt a water heater to heat the oil pan in the same way it heats water tanks by directing heat into a chamber around a reservoir in this case the pan.
Toby a 94 u280
Cummins 8.3
6 speed Allison
Exhaust brake


Adopted by Derek and Annabelle

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #28 –
I have personally started 3208 300 cat diesel cold soaked at 30 below  at 8,000 feet in brekenridge, co having the snowplow jump the generator as no battery power was in the coach(no green lights anywhere) using the block heater for 30 minutes and the ETHER start and 60 second crank time.

Lots of cold smoke.  Parking lot full. 

Changed to 5-20 gen oil to help.

Skiied many times dry camped with the propane gen off.

You guys are spoiled.  That's what the ether start was for before aqua hot and diesel gens you could leave run
"Riding and rejoicing"
Bob
1997 U320 40' Mid entry, build 5132,  wtbi ce27, 4th owner
2007 Solara convertible
2 prodeco tech outlaw ss electric bikes

1095 watts solar
08 Ls 460 and a sc430
2000 Ford F-250 superduty 4x4

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #29 –

Just remember, the 6V-92TA as installed in the U300 does NOT have a block heater as such. Foretravel used a block heater (a CAT heater element at that) and mounted it up high on the left thermostat housing. It is 90% useless mounted up here. If the Detroit standard block heater is mounted in the block under the AC compressor mount, it only will need a couple of hours in sub freezing temps to make a white smoke free start.  Other options are just to buy a $47 Kat's circulating heater with removing a couple of plugs on either side of the block and using heater hose to route the coolant flow. They are available from 400 watts to over 2000 watts. Total with hose and fittings will be less than $75.

Amazon.com: Kat's 13150 1500 Watt Aluminum Circulating Tank Heater: Automotive

Use a mirror and flashlight to find the plugs on the block/heads.

Don't blame the Detroit for poor cold weather starting, blame the guy who had the bad thermostat block heater location idea.

Photo is of the ill advised thermostat location for the "block" heater.

Pierce

As an Amazon Associate Foretravel Owners' Forum earns from qualifying purchases.
Pierce and Gaylie Stewart
'93 U300/36 WTBI
Detroit 6V-92TA Jake
1140 watts on the roof
SBFD (ret)

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #30 –
DISCLAIMER
This was taken from a old afrticle I had read.
 have not done any of this.
1993 U300, 6v92
build 4366
USAF retired, Flight Engineer, C124, C130
 ATP, A & E.  & ex AI

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #31 –
Bob,
At -30f, your LP Gas generator will NOT run, so it was able to start, the temp was not near -30f, reason, at -30f, LP Gas can be carried in an open bucket and no pressure to send it to the regulators etc.
FWIW

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #32 –
LP gas will vaporize down to about -44 degrees Fahrenheit. If it doesn't provide enough fuel vapor to run the genset at that temperature you can heat the tank to get more vapor out of it. I used to install LP gas vaporizers when I first got out of the Air Force. We installed the LP gas vaporizers for the boiler plants in the State Line and Silver Smith casinos in Wendover NV... Now how exactly did my thread get this far off subject when all I did was warn people not to buy a self adhesive oil pan heater?
Scott Cook
1991 U300 36' 6V92TA
Old Town Penobscot 16
1984 Honda VF1100C (V65 Magna)

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #33 –
Quote from: Dave M –
Bob,
At -30f, your LP Gas generator will NOT run, so it was able to start, the temp was not near -30f, reason, at -30f, LP Gas can be carried in an open bucket and no pressure to send it to the regulators etc.
FWIW

Ah you are right the gen did not run until the tank warmed up a bit in the sun.  No one ever splained it to me.

28 years later I learned what really happened.

Only the cat ran after jumping and ether.  Barely. 

"Riding and rejoicing"
Bob
1997 U320 40' Mid entry, build 5132,  wtbi ce27, 4th owner
2007 Solara convertible
2 prodeco tech outlaw ss electric bikes

1095 watts solar
08 Ls 460 and a sc430
2000 Ford F-250 superduty 4x4

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #34 –
Scott,
I'm interested in hearing about your results with an oil pan heater (when you finally figure out how to attach it).  It sounds like no one else has tried it and doing it is the only real way to find out.  When the time comes to test it this winter, please let us know how it works.  How well an engine starts can be very subject so recording parameters like RPM while cranking will demonstrate your theory or not (assuming the gauge works while cranking - I think it does).  Do you still plan on using the OEM block heater too, or just the oil pan heater?
John Fitzgerald
1991 U300 (SAI) Side Aisle Island Bed 40'
Detroit 6V92 with Allison Retarder
Meridian (Boise), Idaho

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #35 –
I hope I don't encounter 18 degree temperatures again soon. If the engine starts at that temperature with the oil pan heater running full time I'll consider the test a success. I intend to abandon the water jacket heater but leave it installed. If my oil pan heater ever burns out I can resume using the water jacket heater until I replace the oil pan heater. The oil pan heater should use half as much energy and be very effective. The water jacket heater is ineffective for starting the engine in cold weather. I'll let you know how it works out.
Scott Cook
1991 U300 36' 6V92TA
Old Town Penobscot 16
1984 Honda VF1100C (V65 Magna)

Re: 6V92TA oil pan heater

Reply #36 –
I let the JB Weld dry for 24 hours and then turned on the oil pan heater again. I can smell hot rubber but I don't see any melting or smoke this time. I let it run an hour or so and then crawled underneath my coach for a close up look and it seems okay to me. The oil pan is warm already. The water jacket heater uses twice as much power but never gets the oil pan warm even after running for a week, or the block either for that matter. I think I'm gonna leave the oil pan heater on tonight while I sleep so if you never hear from me again at least you'll know what happened... :) ...It's supposed to get down to 25 degrees here at Bandelier NM tomorrow night and the night after.

Just to be clear, even if this JB Weld fix works I still wouldn't exactly recommend buying a self adhesive oil pan heater for the 6V92TA because the oil pan doesn't have flat areas that are large enough for the pad(s). If I had to try this again using pad heaters knowing what I know now I'd get a pair of even smaller pads and mount them on either side of the oil pan. The pads I have are 250 watt each but I think 150 watt pads would provide plenty of heat and they'd probably fit the flat areas on the sides of the oil pan. I just need to warm the oil enough so the engine will crank fast enough to start. If I can get the oil up to 50 degrees or more that should be warm enough. My oil pan feels like it's above body temperature already when I put my hand on it after only running an hour or so. I could still use my existing water jacket heater with the oil pan heater if I really had to. I'll write more later after I do some cold weather starts with just the oil pan heater.
Scott Cook
1991 U300 36' 6V92TA
Old Town Penobscot 16
1984 Honda VF1100C (V65 Magna)